How can I stop 16 week old falling asleep when breastfeeding?

My DS has, for the last few weeks, only settled down to sleep at night if breastfed. He won't settle for my husband which means I have to do bedtime every night. I don't mind but it would be nice to share the job every once in a while. Do you think he'll grow out of it? He normally goes down about 10. He has snoozes between 7 and 9 with bath at half 7-8. Should moving bathtime to 6 30ish help?

[Hidden]

Hey, it's tough doing all the bedtime shifts!! I don't BF so not sure if this will be helpful...do you use a bottle for any feeds or are you EBF? I imagine baby is prob thinking why would I fall asleep with Daddy when I can cuddle up with Mummy and get fed at the same time!

Maybe if you either expressed/formula fed at the last feed when Daddy is doing bedtime? He'll prob still fall asleep whilst drinking a bottle when he's with Daddy.

Also when Daddy is doing bedtime are you near by? I think I remember midwife saying that babies can smell breast milk/Mummy so if he can he's naturally going to want you and not Daddy. I would also say Daddy will prob need a bit of patience/perseverance too before bubba gets the hang of bedtime with Daddy.

Sorry if I'm barking up the wrong tree with things you've already heard/tried xx

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Cheers. I thinj dad was feeling a bit under pressure so called me in sooner rather than later. He did well tonight yay! Thanks.

[Hidden]

Hi

Babies at times are very intelligent when it comes to what they want & they can also pick up smells of things & people they know very quickly.

Are you in the same room when your husband wants to put your son to sleep? , as this could also be a factor as to why he won't go down.

Depending on your lifestyle it may help to push his nighttime bath time back a bit but it all depends on the routine in which you have implemented.

My daughter is now 14 wks old & I now combine her feeds with breast & bottle. I find that she'll gladly take the bottle from her father or another member of family when I'm not around her but if she senses I'm in the room or even somewhere close by she'll want the breast & nothing else.

xx

[Armywag in reply to Hidden]

lmao you're not wrong that they are intelligent! When mine wants to be picked up from her playmat or chair, she will look at me and make some sort of gurning sound. If I don't react, she will start whimpering (still looking at me), if I still don't react, it is a full blown ear splitting whaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh - yep still looking at me! When I finally go to pick her up, she smiles at me. Little madam lol x

[Hidden in reply to Armywag]

Oh yeah!

Funny Like madam my daughter is too.

The hardest thing is those adorable puppy eyes she gives me when she' s after something.

[cheekymonkey3791 in reply to Hidden]

You left out the bottom lip!! Gets me every time X

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Started bedtime routine earlier. He fell asleep by himself. Woke for feed and let dad put him down! They are tricky monkeys . Thanks for advice.

[CarolineDarz]

My little boy is like this, but will also take a bottle of expressed milk at night if i really want. But i, like you arent really that bothered! I felt pressured to stop it a couple of weeks ago as i felt others saw it as wrong. Googled for advice and found this article - fyi it is quite strongly worded, It made me feel better though, and less pressured! analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2...

[Jacksonla in reply to CarolineDarz]

It's articles like that which make me feel so much better! I read so much about not creating bad sleep habits by nursing them to sleep or comfort nursing and it gets me thinking that I'm doing something wrong by doing exactly that! My LO is 13 weeks and I'm now learning to ignore what other people say & just to continue to do what I know makes him (and me!) happy.

I'm nursing him to sleep as I type this lol.

Thanks for sharing x

[Hidden in reply to CarolineDarz]

Great article thanks.

[Hidden in reply to CarolineDarz]

Thanks for tht article..I enjoy feeding my son and watching him sleep for bed..I only hav a short time of bf left as I am going back to work so will b changing to formula so I will b making the most of our evening feeds x

[Merida]

I've found a big bottle of expressed milk and cuddle from dad can be great for settling my little one. I have bath time at half six, sometimes a little earlier if he's tired, he tends to get over tired later but all babies are different. Just take care as I've settled him recently and now Fynn gets really upset when Dad does as I think he associates it with me now. We're trying to gradually reintroduce Dad as I'll be back at work soon and may work late and nice to go out occasionally too. Wish we'd been consistent keeping Dad involved. Good luck!